WHEREAS, the President issued Proclamation No. 922 (s. 2020) declaring a State of Public Health Emergency throughout the Philippines due to the COVID-19 situation, and has called all government agencies and local government units (LGUs) to undertake appropriate measures to curtail and eliminate the COVID-19 threat;

WHEREAS, through Proclamation No. 929 (s. 2020), the President declared a State of Calamity throughout the Philippines for a period of six (6) months and imposed an Enhanced Community Quarantine throughout Luzon;

WHEREAS, in view of the serious threat to the health, safety, security, and lives of the Filipino people posed by COVID-19, Republic Act (RA) No. 11469, otherwise known as the "Bayanihan to Heal As One Act," was enacted to authorize the President to exercise powers that are necessary and proper to carry out the tasks needed to mitigate, if not contain, the transmission of COVID-19 and its adverse effects to the lives of Filipinos; and

WHEREAS, Section 4(z) of RA No. 11469 provides that the President shall have the power to move statutory deadlines and timelines for the filing and submission of any document, the payment of taxes, fees, and other charges required by law, and the grant of any benefit as a temporary emergency measure to respond to the crisis brought by the pandemic in order to ease the burden on individuals under community quarantine;

WHEREAS, pursuant to the Memorandum from the Executive Secretary dated 28 March 2020 (Memorandum), the President directed the Secretary of the Department of Finance (DOF) to implement Section 4(z) of RA No. 11469; and

WHEREAS, the same Memorandum states that the exercise of the authorities stated therein by the departments and agencies concerned shall be without prejudice to the direct exercise thereof by the President at any time;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by RA No. 11469 and other laws, do hereby order:

SECTION 1. Directive to Issue Guidelines. Any law to the contrary notwithstanding, and in order to ease the social and economic burden of community quarantine, all heads of departments, agencies, offices, and instrumentalities of the government, including government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs), government financial institutions (GFIs), state universities and colleges (SUCs), and LGUs, are hereby directed, while the heads of other branches of government and independent constitutional bodies are hereby enjoined, to immediately formulate and issue rules or guidelines on the following, to be applied in areas under community quarantine or to individuals coming from such areas, as the case may be:

a. Interruption of reglementary periods for the commencement of actions and claims; the filing of pleadings, appearances, motions, notices, and all other papers; and the rendition of judgments, resolutions, and orders for the duration of the community quarantine;

b. Cancellation of proceedings and the rescheduling thereof after the lifting of community quarantine;

c. Acceptable justifications for the failure of litigants or their counsel, as well as claimants, to comply with reglementary periods or to appear at legal proceedings, if they are coming from jurisdictions where quarantine protocols restrict their movements;

d. Suspension of deadlines for the payment of monetary obligations and/or the submission of documents, for the duration of community quarantine; and

e. Movement of timelines for the grant of any benefit, to allow the release thereof to individuals during community quarantine.

Notwithstanding sub-paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) above, reglementary periods and proceedings for urgent cases which are necessary to enable the government to act expedttiously on matters affecting the current public health emergency shall not be interrupted or cancelled.

The foregoing directive shall apply only in relation to areas where community quarantine was declared in accordance with the rules issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) or the Office of the President, until the date that the same is lifted by the same office that made the declaration, provided the lifting be also in accordance with the rules of the IATF or the Office of the President.

SECTION 2. Compliance with the Directives of Higher Authorities. The heads of the above agencies shall ensure that their rules or guidelines are consistent with the directives of the IATF and the Office of the President, and are in compliance with existing laws, rules, and regulations. Such rules or guidelines shall be without prejudice t to future directives or orders to be issued by the IATF or the Office of the President pursuant to RA No. 11469.

For agencies, GOCCs, GFIs and SUCs attached to or under the supervision of executive departments, their compliance with this directive shall further be subject to the supervision of such departments. LGUs shall be deemed to be under the supervision of the Department of the Interior and Local Government for purposes of implementing this Order.

SECTION 3. Existing guidelines issued by government agencies. All issuances previously released by agencies pertaining to the extension, interruption or movement of the periods and timelines set by law for the filing of documents, conduct of proceedings, payment of taxes, fees, and other charges, and the grant of any benefit or claim due to COVID-19 are hereby adopted and ratified insofar as they are consistent with the guidelines set forth by the IATF and the directives of the Office of the President.

SECTION 4. Submission of Relevant and Timely Recommendations to the IATF. All heads of departments, agencies, offices, and instrumentalities of the national government are encouraged to provide relevant and timely recommendations to the IATF regarding the implementation of this Order.

SECTION 5. Separability. If any provision of this Order is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected thereby shall remain valid and subsisting.

SECTION 6. Repeal. All issuances, orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Order are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 7. Effectivity. This Order shall take effect immediately following its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

DONE in the City of Manila this 21st day of April in the Year of Our Lord, Two Thousand and Twenty.

(SGD.) RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE

By the President:

(SGD.) SALVADOR C. MEDIALDEA
Executive Secretary